Join us as we unravel the prophecy of a coming world leader—the Antichrist—from the enigmatic passages of Daniel. David Hawking leads a compelling discussion on the characteristics and fate of this influential figure, drawing connections to modern-day issues within the legal system and societal values. With expert insight, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the trials predicted to engulf the world and the ultimate triumph of divine justice.
00:00:00 A Sick Society and The Call for Leadership
You notice the time in which we live. Everybody’s fighting for himself, individual rights. See if we can’t make some money off of mistreatment and abuse. Something’s seriously wrong. We’re a sick society. And you talk about a setup for a leader who could come in and take over? We’re there, folks. We are there. And the world is crying for such leadership. And we will be deceived. He comes in a type of a suit that we will like. He’ll be moral and he’ll be just what we want. And we’ll go for it. We’ll take him. Yes, do it. Anybody that can do something about crime and world disorder and we’ll follow him. That’s the little horn. And now you’ve got the picture.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Hope for Today with Bible teacher and author, David Hawking. On today’s program, it’s time for day two of David’s message from Daniel chapter seven, titled, A Coming World Leader. Picture this, a world in chaos. David Hawking, gripped by fear and looking for a savior. Then comes a voice, smooth, calm, deadly. He promises peace, but he brings deception. He promotes unity, but wages war on God himself. The Bible calls him the Antichrist. He’ll blaspheme heaven, persecute believers, enforce global control, and set himself up as God. He’ll rise out of the beast, but his fall will be swift and certain. Our study time begins in just a moment. First, though, here’s a quick word that David shared a few years back, and it’s still very much true today. Hi, folks.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
All right, let’s get back to David’s message, A Coming World Leader, from Daniel chapter 7.
SPEAKER 01 :
We looked at the empires of world history. Number two, if you’re outlining, we’re talking about the entrance of the little horn. The entrance of the little horn. The fourth beast… really parallels what is in the book of Revelation as the seventh head on the seven-headed beast of Revelation. The fourth beast of Daniel 7 is that seventh head, upon which are ten horns. This fourth terrible, awful beast is not speaking about Rome, though it is a revived Roman Empire. It is ten horns on this fourth beast. And that is the terrible empire of the end time. We have not as yet seen another world empire since Rome. Many have tried. But the world empire of the end time will be a confederacy of nations. And out of that confederacy will arise an individual who in and of himself will become the eighth world empire of the world. The Bible describes that as we looked last time in the book of Revelation chapter 17. This great world leader who in and of himself will be an empire. He will dictate all decisions. He will defile the temple of God that will be rebuilt in Israel. He is going to persecute Israel as they have never been persecuted before. Through his efforts, all Christians who refuse the mark of the beast will in fact be killed. All Gentiles. The Bible teaches the Jewish people will be spared a remnant, one-third of them, by escaping to the wilderness. 144,000 of them who are appointed to preach the gospel will be supernaturally spared by God during this terrible time, known as the Great Tribulation. We are on that period right now as we look at Daniel 7. I want you to notice five things about the entrance of this little horn. First of all, his coming is described in verse 8. Chapter 7, verse 8, I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous things. Number two, let’s look at his characteristics. What are the characteristics of this little horn? By the way, he’s spoken of frequently in the Bible, not just here in Daniel 7. But we’ll look and confine our remarks to Daniel 7. Number one, he is a man, verse 8. And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words. Some say, well, this is just a simile, like the eyes of a man. But I think it’s very clear in other passages that we, in fact, have a man. As a matter of fact, he is called the man of sin in the Bible. He’s also called the Antichrist. He’s also called the worker of lawlessness. There are a lot of names given to him. He is the prince that will come that Daniel 9 will talk about. He’s the exact same person. There are many descriptions of him. He is a man. A man who’s going to exert a great deal of world influence. But at first, he’s going to be so Mr. Clean and so amiable and tolerable by other nations, we won’t think of him in that way. People often ask me, do you know who the Antichrist is? We’ve even had films that have been produced from Hollywood emphasizing who the Antichrist might be. And people are always fascinated by that, who he might be. The Satanists say that they already know who he is. There are people around the world who claim they know who the Antichrist is. Well, I don’t believe we do know. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that the man of sin will be revealed, but apparently not now, but in the tribulation period. We don’t know. If the Lord comes for His church tonight, needless to say, He’s already in the world and probably in power somewhere. And that can be a frightening thought when you think about it. You will not recognize him as an antichrist. You will not recognize him as a world deceiver. You will not recognize him as the vicious beast that he will be in slaughtering millions of people. The reason why I’m pointing this out is don’t think that automatically people are going to know that this person has the character of an antichrist. They’re going to be deceived, the Bible says. In fact, the religion of the world that’s going to somehow amalgamate into one central headquarters with a false prophet leading the way, they’re going to encourage everybody to worship this man and to say he’s the answer to all the problems in the world. Evidently, he’s going to be able to pull off some peace processes. He’s going to be able to get people to negotiate with one another. He is a man. Number two, he has great speaking ability. That’s what the Bible says. Because of television and multimedia, we are all now very much aware that we don’t often get the best candidate. We get the guy who knows how to communicate. We get the guy who knows how to use the tube. The guy who can speak. And the Bible says he’s going to have great speaking ability. It was mentioned in verse 8, pompous words. Again, verse 21, he’s going to, not 21, but 20, he’s going to speak pompous words. Very powerful in his speaking ability. Number three, interesting remark, isn’t it, in verse 20? He appears to be of larger size than his contemporaries. Now, I’m not really thrilled about that. Being tall myself. But it says, whose appearance was greater than his fellows. Now, what does that mean? I mean, I don’t want to spiritualize this, think there’s some holy glow coming off of him. But it’s very possible that he’s going to be larger than most people. Tall and a big person. He appears to be of larger size than his contemporaries. Number four, he is empowered by Satan to do amazing things. Turn to 2 Thessalonians, please, chapter 2. He’s empowered by Satan to do amazing things. 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 3. Means there’s no hope for his salvation whatsoever. who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Verse 8, Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. Many writers point out, and I think it’s valid, that he is going to be religious. And one of his chief means of deceiving people is going to be a major leader in terms of the religious people of the world. They’ll be awestruck by his ability. Perhaps speaking about his gifts from God, he’s going to be able to show great signs and wonders, and people are going to be fascinated with him. Turn to the book of Revelation, please. Revelation chapter 13. The Bible indicates this deception process by means of miraculous deeds empowered by Satan. on several passages. In Revelation 13, we have quite a statement about Satan empowering him. In verse 2, it says, “…the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” Verse 4 says, “…they worshipped the dragon even, who gave authority to the beast.” They worshipped the beast. Who’s like the beast? Who’s able to make war with him? “…he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty and two months.” Jump down, please, to verse 13. Concerning his sidekick, the false prophet, it says that he performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak… and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” Well, there’s a lot in the Bible about it. Back to Daniel chapter 7. We said there are five things to notice about this little horn. One is his coming. Two, his characteristics. Three is his conflict with God and with God’s people. His conflict with God and God’s people. Will you look at verse 21? Daniel 7, 21. “‘I was watching, and the same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them.'” Verse 25, he shall speak pompous words against the Most High and shall persecute the saints of the Most High. His conflict is with God and God’s people. Now a lot of people want to put all the believers, the Gentile believers of the tribulation and all of Israel into that camp. I have to be fair with what I think the context is saying, and I have the feeling that the saints of the Most High are primarily referring to the nation of Israel. His primary target is Israel. While he will guarantee their peace and security and look like their savior, three and a half years into the tribulation, he’s going to change. He’s going to ask them to worship him. Then he’s going to unleash persecution against them as they have never received before. That’s not easy to tell a people who lost six million people under the terrible rule of Hitler himself. But that’s going to come in the tribulation period. Jesus said there’ll be greater tribulation in that time than they’ve ever had in the history of the world. And a lot of people are going to be killed. And he’s going to persecute evidently all believers, but especially Israel. Now the fourth thing I’d like you to notice is His control. Verse 25. And there are two things I want you to see. His control. It says that in the last part of the verse, He shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into His hand for a time, times, and half a time. Which is a parallel phrase to other usages indicating three and a half years. His control, two things. One, the decisions that he’s going to try to make will indicate awesome power. He’s going to change times and law itself. He’s going to have that kind of control over people. Now, I personally believe that the setup for that exists already in our country. People are getting frustrated with the legal profession. Have you noticed? We’ve got a real problem. If you’re in the legal profession, thank God there are decent and wonderful people in that profession. But there’s also a lot of charlatans. And it seems like it’s national ripoff time in America. Under the guise of individual rights, we’re suing each other for everything under the sun. Those with gray hairs in the audience know that this whole country has been turned around in terms of the legal profession in one generation. This is such a mess, we wonder how it came. If you’ve been born in the last 30 years, you probably don’t recognize it. It is unbelievable what they have done in the legal profession. It’s sickening, really. The whole motivation is rooted in personal graft and greed to somehow get some money off of somebody, sue somebody real quick, and hopefully get something. The whole attitude is a violation of what God told Christians to do, and that’s not to go to public law courts. In 1 Corinthians 6 it says, Isn’t there a wise man among you who can judge between his brothers? God rebukes us for even considering the public legal profession as an answer to our personal problems among believers. I understand that gets more complicated when you’re facing unbelievers. But among believers, surely, we understand what God said. God mentions no words of attack against those believers who argue that somehow we could take believers to court. The Bible’s against that, and very strongly against that. But we live in a terrible society. It’s almost like they’re God. We give them the decision. Whatever’s final in the court, that’s it. I just want you to know, and we have some judges also in the congregation. I just want you to know the judicial system, I respect it. Bible says to honor those men to whom honor is due. But I want you to know there’s some terrible people who are judges in this country. I have some judges that are friends of mine. And the alcoholism, the divorce, the rotten lives, and the immorality among judges. Somebody needs to say something about it, just like the prophets did in the Old Testament. And a lot of us are afraid because they’re God. Well, I’ll tell you, those nine people in the Supreme Court are not God. And when they make a decision that violates the law of God, we disobey them and obey God. That’s what the Bible says. We need to understand that in this country. Thank you. I am not against the judicial system. I am not against law. All the authority has been established by God and ordained by God. And the Bible tells us to respond to it. But we ought to obey God rather than man. And what we have in our nation now is a corrupt judicial and legal system. It is corrupt. And I thank God for those righteous men. The Bible says when the righteous are ruling, the people rejoice. But when the wicked rule, the people groan. We’ve got a mess in this country. We’ve got a mess in our police departments because of this also. The cops don’t know how to do it. They don’t know how to handle it. And we’re looking for every moment we possibly can to put policemen down and show that they’re the problem when in fact our judicial and legal system has created much of it. I’m not trying to excuse anybody’s blame for any personal abuse at all. They ought to be condemned if they have. But you notice the time in which we live. Everybody’s fighting for himself, individual rights. See if we can’t make some money off of mistreatment and abuse. Something’s seriously wrong. We’re a sick society. And you talk about a setup for a leader who could come in and take over? We’re there, folks. We are there, and the world is crying for such leadership. And we will be deceived. He comes in a type of a suit that we will like. He’ll be moral, and he’ll be just what we want. And we’ll go for it. We’ll take him. Yes, do it. Anybody that can do something about crime and world disorder, and we’ll follow him. That’s the little horn. And now you’ve got the picture. The one final thing I’d mention about the little horn is this final conclusion. Look at verse 11, please, of chapter 7. It says, I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking. I watched till the beast was slain and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. That’s what’s going to happen to him. I read also in verse 26. It says the court shall be seated, they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever. Turn please in your Bible to Revelation 19. Let’s make sure we know what’s going to happen to this coming world leader. Revelation 19, verse 20. After describing the second coming of Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation in power and great glory, coming to the earth to defeat all the nations of the world, it says in verse 20, “…then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet, who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.” In chapter 20, verse 10, it says, “…and the devil who deceived them…” was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. No, it’s no party time in hell. They’ll be tormented day and night forever and ever. And that’s where this coming world leader is going to end up. And his kingdom will be destroyed, wiped off the face of the map, and Christ our Lord will rule forever and ever. Praise God.
SPEAKER 04 :
Praise God indeed. Wow. That’s David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David, we’ll be back in just a bit to close out our time in God’s Word for today. Right now, Matt’s here, and we have a wonderful resource to share with you. Matt?
SPEAKER 03 :
I enjoy a good drama, a story about real life faith that’s tested and boldly, courageously stands firm to the glory of God. And Daniel is just such a book. Amen. It’s one of my favorites. And not only does it convey a dynamic and encouraging testimony, it also gives prophetic insight to history and the future. It does indeed. And Matt, it makes the case that God is at work. He keeps his word and he will preserve and protect his saints all the way to the wonders of eternity with him. Amen. Well, our featured resource for April is the complete set of 17 messages in our Daniel radio series covering several weeks on the radio for just $30 on MP3 and $50 on audio CDs. We also want to mention your dad’s book on Daniel.
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s titled Daniel Prophecies of the Last Days. Daniel spent a rather tense night in the lion’s den, didn’t he? And the book of Daniel has been in the critics’ den ever since. But in defiance of the critics’ doubts… This book of the Bible is so clearly predictive and accurate, absolutely accurate in its prophecies.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, time and again, many of Daniel’s prophetic visions have been fulfilled in stunning and complete detail. Absolutely. This gives us confidence for his God-given vision still to be fulfilled, perhaps in our lifetime. Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, get your copy of Daniel, Prophecies of the Last Days by David Hawking from Hope for Today. Dynamite pages, an engaging read, and the cost is just $20.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, this book will build your joy and faith. It will. And your purchase will help us continue the radio and online ministry of Hope for Today.
SPEAKER 04 :
A purchase or a donation makes you a vital member of this ministry team. Please prayerfully consider… joining the team. And when you partner with us in this way, you’re not just keeping us on the air, you’re helping us catch up. We’ve got ground to make up this month, and we’re trusting God to provide through friends who love His Word and believe in the mission of Hope for Today. As David said earlier, this isn’t just about covering costs. It’s about fueling the work. And part of that work includes something new God’s put on our hearts, creating and sharing short, powerful Bible teaching clips for social media. We believe this will help us reach a younger, fast-moving generation that desperately needs the gospel and the truth of God’s word. So please do pray for that. Pray for the resources, the reach, and the right timing of this new outreach from Hope for Today to social media. And if you can give to help us fund that, do it today. We’re grateful for every single gift, and we don’t take one dollar for granted. And thank you for praying for us and being a part of this as God might direct. To donate, write to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. That’s in the United States. Or in Canada, write to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, B.C., V2S 8P1. You can also call us in the U.S., 800-75-BIBLE, 800-75-24253, or in Canada, 888-75-BIBLE, 888-75-24253. And remember, you can also give securely on our website, davidhawking.org. Let’s go back to David for the rest of today’s study.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it’s just a delight to be teaching Daniel chapter 7. And there’s so much here, you hardly know where to start. Remember that it started with four empires. And the fourth beast, we believe, is Rome. And it said it’s dreadful, terrible, exceedingly strong, had huge iron teeth. And there was a confederacy associated with it of ten horns. And out of that comes the little horn. And that little horn is the Antichrist himself. Well, he won’t be revealed today. until after the rapture of the church. So thanks for listening today as we are trying to bring the details out. I hope you’re listening to our study every day. And God’s judgment is going to be unleashed on this one called the little horn, the Antichrist, and God’s kingdom. is going to be set up and it will be controlled by the saints of God. We’re going to rule and reign with him according to the Bible. You may not want to, but you’re going to. But the kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Praise the Lord. We’ll plan to be with us for each of our studies in Daniel.
SPEAKER 04 :
And friend, remember, if you need prayer, we’re here for you. If you need someone to pray for you, call us at 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. We’ve got a team ready to lift you up and stand with you in your time of need. If you call after office hours, leave a message. We will pray for you. We’re not just here to teach. We’re here to walk with you through every high and every low, and we count on you to pray for us as well. Call us today. Get in touch. Your needs matter. And we believe in the power of prayer to change lives. Amen. Well, next time on the broadcast, it’s more from the book of Daniel. So be sure to invite a friend to listen along with you right here on Hope for Today. Hope for Today
Join us as we unravel the prophecy of a coming world leader—the Antichrist—from the enigmatic passages of Daniel. David Hawking leads a compelling discussion on the characteristics and fate of this influential figure, drawing connections to modern-day issues within the legal system and societal values. With expert insight, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of the trials predicted to engulf the world and the ultimate triumph of divine justice.
